When to Pick Cherry Tomatoes for the Best Flavor and Quality

Cherry tomatoes are a candy backyard deal with and simple to develop in backyard beds or containers. To make sure you benefit from the highest high quality harvest, it’s vital to know when to select cherry tomatoes. In the event you harvest them too early, they’ll be underripe and also you’ll miss out on most taste. Wait too lengthy and the thin-skinned fruits might cut up whereas nonetheless on the vegetation. Beneath I’ll share tips about how and when to select cherry tomatoes for possibility taste and high quality. 

What are cherry tomatoes? 

Cherry tomatoes are the sweet of the vegetable backyard. The vegetation are dependable and productive, and the versatile fruits are available vibrant shades of purple, orange, yellow, purple, pink, and even inexperienced. Cherry tomatoes get their title from the truth that the fruits are about the identical form and measurement as cherries (and grapes!) with most rising 1 to 1 1/2 inches throughout. They’re sweeter than large-fruited tomatoes and have a vibrant, fruity taste. The bite-sized tomatoes are sometimes produced on trusses, clusters of small stems, which ripen from the highest to the underside. 

A cherry tomato plant might be determinate (bush) or indeterminate (vining), however most varieties supplied in seed catalogs are indeterminate and require staking to assist their vigorous progress. I exploit sturdy tomato stakes or tall tomato cages for my vining cherry tomato vegetation. For pots, hanging baskets, and really small areas, there are new hybrids with extremely compact vegetation. These are sometimes referred to as ‘micro tomatoes’.

Why that you must know when to select cherry tomatoes

Figuring out when to select cherry tomatoes is important because the bite-sized fruits are finest loved when completely ripe. In the event you harvest cherry tomatoes too early, the flavour isn’t totally developed and the fruits nonetheless too agency. In the event you wait too lengthy, the fruits can cut up. Cherry tomatoes are very vulnerable to splitting and as soon as a fruit cracks, it begins to rot. Typically a ripe cherry tomato will fall into your hand with a delicate tug. If that you must pull exhausting, it’s not prepared. There are a number of clues you need to use to find out when it’s time to select cherry tomatoes. These embody days to maturity, fruit measurement, shade, firmness, and taste. Extra on all of those under in addition to recommendation on the way to harvest and retailer cherry tomatoes.

When to reap based mostly on days to maturity

The most important clue of how lengthy it would take for the harvest to start is the times to maturity info listed on the seed packet or within the seed catalog. Days to maturity is the common time wanted for a vegetable to go from seed or transplanting to reap. For tomatoes, days to maturity is predicated on transplanting and begins while you tuck the seedlings within the backyard. The times to maturity for many cherry tomato varieties falls someplace within the 55 to 70 day vary.

My favourite selection, Sungold, wants round 57 days of progress from transplanting earlier than the harvest begins. Dawn Bumblebee, one other scrumptious and productive cherry tomato, wants a bit extra time. Will probably be about 70 days after transplanting earlier than the fruits begin to ripen. To reap based mostly on this technique you’ll must know the times to maturity in your chosen selection and begin checking the vegetation for ripe fruits because the date nears. 

When to select cherry tomatoes based mostly on fruit measurement

Because the title cherry tomato implies, the fruits of this fashionable crop are concerning the measurement of a cherry. That stated, there are specific varieties with fruits that develop barely bigger. Inexperienced Bee is a scrumptious cherry tomato with fruits which have a diameter of about 1 1/2 inches. An outline of the mature measurement of the fruits must be listed within the seed catalog or on the seed packet. This info is useful when figuring out if it’s time to select your cherry tomatoes. 

When to select cherry tomatoes based mostly on shade

Cherry tomatoes ripen from inexperienced to their mature shade, and relying on the range, the ripe fruits of cherry tomatoes might be purple, orange, yellow, inexperienced, purple, pink or black. Colour is the perfect clue that the tomatoes are totally ripe and able to choose. Nevertheless, sure varieties have striped or bi-colored fruits, like Dawn Bumblebee, which provides one other layer of confusion when attempting to determine when to select cherry tomatoes.

In the event you’re like me, as quickly as you begin to see a little bit of shade growing on the small fruits you get anxious to begin selecting. Particularly the primary fruits of the season! Nevertheless, you’ll thank your self by letting these tomatoes ripen utterly. The ripening course of permits the sugars within the fruit to develop. Which means they’ll style significantly better if you happen to simply give them a bit time to paint up. 

Use the picture on the seed packet, web site, or catalog that can assist you determine if the fruits are the appropriate shade. It’s straightforward to inform with purple, yellow, pink, and orange fruited tomatoes. It’s be more durable to infer ripe tomatoes when the fruits are black, purple, inexperienced, or bi-colored, particularly for first-time growers. In the event you’re undecided, use the opposite indicators of ripeness under, like taste, to find out if the fruits are prepared to select. 

When to select cherry tomatoes based mostly on firmness

Texture is a crucial high quality in a ripe cherry tomato and when gently squeezed, it must be agency, not exhausting. It ought to have a bit give however not be mushy. The exception to that is Mochi, a brand new cherry tomato selection with a chewy, squishy texture that has been in comparison with a gumdrop.

When to reap based mostly on taste

Of all of the clues gardeners use to determine ripeness, I depend on shade and taste essentially the most. Colour is a visible cue the place taste is all concerning the juicy sweetness of a sun-ripened fruit. Yum! Keep in mind that cherry tomatoes ripen from the highest of the truss, or cluster, down. So if the highest fruits appear to be ripe, choose one and pop it in your mouth. Is it very candy? Does it have a pleasant texture? If it tastes good, it’s totally developed and you’ll go forward and harvest the opposite ripe tomatoes. If the fruit is bland or very crunchy, it’s not prepared to select. Be affected person and provides the tomatoes a bit extra time to sweeten up. 

3 tricks to pace up cherry tomato ripening

Like most gardeners I’m at all times anxious for the primary tomatoes of the season and do my finest to encourage wholesome plant progress. This implies choosing the right web site attainable and giving the vegetation a lot of TLC. Wholesome vegetation not solely produce extra cherry tomatoes, however they might additionally ripen sooner. In fact Mom Nature typically has different plans in thoughts and a stretch of cool climate or extreme rain can delay the cherry tomato harvest by every week or two. Preserve these three ideas in thoughts when planting tomatoes: 

Gentle – Rising cherry tomatoes partially shade slows the ripening course of. Goal to tuck cherry tomato vegetation in a web site with loads of daylight, no less than 8 hours of direct gentle every day.
Fertile soil – Tomatoes are grasping vegetation and wish a superb provide of vitamins like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Earlier than planting I amend the soil with aged manure or compost, and add a sluggish launch natural tomato fertilizer. 
Moisture – Drought-stressed tomato vines don’t develop or produce properly. It’s due to this fact vital to offer constant moisture by deep watering when the soil is dry about an inch or two down. Working a soaker hose alongside the bottom of the vegetation makes watering fast and simple. 

Need to be taught extra about when to select cherry tomatoes? Watch this video:

Learn how to harvest cherry tomatoes

The beauty of rising cherry tomatoes is that the vegetation present months – not weeks – of harvests. My season sometimes runs from late July by means of early October and I choose day-after-day or two to make sure we eat them at peak ripeness. You may collect a handful for a salad or snacking or seize a harvest basket to gather the fruits. Utilizing a container or basket can scale back harm, significantly if you happen to’re harvesting a variety of tomatoes. 

After they’re totally ripe, cherry tomatoes come off the stem with little or no strain. They nearly fall off into your hand. Place them fastidiously within the basket and proceed to reap till you’ve gathered all of the ripe fruits. 

If there may be heavy rain within the forecast I’ll harvest all ripe tomatoes in addition to these which might be practically ripe as a sudden inflow of water may cause splitting or cracking. In the event you discover this to be an annual concern, plant crack-resistant varieties like Solar Sugar.  

Learn how to ripen cherry tomatoes

In the direction of the top of the rising season when the primary frost is within the forecast I harvest all of the cherry tomatoes nonetheless on my vegetation. Look beneath the leaves for hidden fruit clusters because the foliage might be fairly dense. Any fruits which have sized up ripen tremendous – even when they’ve not but reached their mature shade. Simply give them a few days on the kitchen counter or a spot out of direct daylight with common room temperature. 

Some gardeners wish to ripen cherry tomatoes by putting them in a paper bag with a banana or an apple. The fruits launch ethylene gasoline which triggers ripening. Nevertheless, I discover utilizing a banana additionally makes my cherry tomatoes style like bananas, so I choose to allow them to ripen naturally on my counter. 

Learn how to retailer cherry tomatoes 

Retailer cherry tomatoes in room temperature in a shallow bowl or container. I depart them on my kitchen counter, however extra fruits are ‘solar dried’ in my dehydrator or frozen for winter use. Tossing a number of frozen cherry tomatoes in chilly season pastas provides a burst of summer season taste. 

The perfect cherry tomato varieties to develop:

I’ve grown over 50 cherry tomato varieties in my backyard and have definitely discovered fairly a number of favorites. Listed below are some standouts you could want to attempt:

Crimson cherry tomatoes – Supersweet 100, Jasper, Tidy Treats, Crimson Pear, Sweetie, Peacevine
Pink cherry tomatoes – Pink Bumblebee, Pink Champagne
Yellow cherry tomatoes – White Cherry, Gold Nugget, Apple Yellow, Egg Yolk, Snow White
Orange cherry tomatoes – Sungold, Dawn Bumblebee, Esterina
Inexperienced cherry tomatoes – Inexperienced Bee, Inexperienced Grape
Black/purple cherry tomatoes – Black Cherry, Purple Bumblebee, Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Sprinkles, Midnight Pear

For extra info on rising tomatoes, you should definitely learn these in-depth articles:

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